Tag: Live

Robin Hilton | March 17, 2023 It’s hard to overstate the kindness and good-natured humor Bono and The Edge brought to the Tiny Desk. When they first arrived at the NPR Music offices, Bono spoke on an imaginary phone, “The talent’s here! The talent’s coming through,” poking fun at their own fame, while carrying The Edge’s guitar. (The Edge called Bono the best roadie he’s ever had.) The two never stopped beaming, like two overjoyed newcomers thrilled at the chance to play for someone. The performance was a preview of U2’s new album, Songs Of Surrender, featuring stripped-down versions of [See More…]

This year’s Black History Month celebration at the Tiny Desk features a carefully crafted lineup spanning many genres, generations and walks of life. Each artist represents the best in their class and will be performing at the Tiny Desk for the first time. Bobby Carter | February 28, 2023 Omah Lay brought a calm demeanor and a bright smile to his time at NPR headquarters. By the third song of his Tiny Desk concert, “soso,” I realized that the Nigerian star was exercising lots of emotions through this set. The first two titles, “Bad Influence” and “i’m a mess,” are [See More…]

Bob Boilen | January 3, 2023 Surely my musical highlight for 2022 was this Tiny Desk concert from The Smile. Just how Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner were going to perform songs from their sonically adventurous album A Light for Attracting Attention was a puzzle not only to me but to the band. They arrived early, along with saxophonist Robert Stillman, to test out several tunes and figure out just what made sense behind my desk — minus the volume and effects that shape the album’s sonic landscape. For roughly 90 minutes, the [See More…]

Marissa Lorusso | December 7, 2022 “I don’t have a lot to say,” Alex Giannascoli, who performs as Alex G, says with a laugh after his first song behind the Tiny Desk. Judging from his discography alone, that’s not something you might ordinarily accuse the Philly singer-songwriter of: nine full-length albums in the last dozen years, in addition to a couple EPs and a film soundtrack. His prodigious output of melodic, peculiar indie rock has earned him a cult-beloved status. True, he got to play guitar on a couple Frank Ocean tracks — but for a more accurate indication of [See More…]

Stephen Thompson | December 5, 2022 Belgian dance-pop superstar Stromae puts on one of the best live shows in the world — here’s a two-song set from 2015, presented as evidence — but his stage presentation is tough to strip down. To say nothing of the light show, Stromae’s throbbingly impeccable arrangements involve the extensive use of pre-recorded tracks, all of which are frowned upon at the Tiny Desk. So, given a simple three-word assignment (“no preset sounds”), his team set about re-creating Stromae’s music so that it could be performed in real time. This involved more gleaming tech than [See More…]

Stephen Thompson | December 2, 2022 Now that we’re back to recording Tiny Desk concerts in the office, home concerts mostly happen under special circumstances: when the artist is overseas, for example, or otherwise unable to get to Washington, D.C., when we’re recording. Given that BTS’s RM (aka Kim Nam-joon) is based in South Korea, we let it slide — not least because his team put together one of the most impressive Tiny Desk facsimiles we’ve seen yet. What really sets it apart is the huge array of shelf-bound ephemera, which is bound to have the BTS Army sleuthing in [See More…]